Latest news with #MarcAndreessen
Time of India
6 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he stopped playing chess as a kid, but agrees it has become ‘more popular and bigger'
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently said that he mostly stopped playing chess as a child after realizing that computers would one day easily defeat human players. The tech billionaire was responding to a post by American businessman Marc Andreessen who wrote: 'Chess is more popular and a bigger industry now than ever.' Andreessen's post highlights chess's resurgence, contradicting fears of AI-driven obsolescence, with global participation hitting 605 million players in 2022 per FIDE's data, a 30% rise since 2012, fueled by online platforms like during the COVID-19 pandemic. To this, Elon Musk replied 'True, to my surprise. I mostly stopped playing chess as a kid when I realized that it would be trivial in the future to write a chess (low DoF game) program that could beat all humans.' In this context, 'low DoF' refers to 'low degrees of freedom,' meaning the game has a limited set of possible moves and outcomes, making it easier for a computer to master through programming. In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue made history by defeating world champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match, becoming the first computer to beat a reigning world chess champion under standard tournament conditions. Since then, chess engines have only become more powerful. Modern AI systems like Stockfish and Google's AlphaZero can calculate millions of positions per second, easily outperforming even the strongest human players. AlphaZero, developed by DeepMind (a Google-owned company), learned the game from scratch using reinforcement learning and went on to beat top engines using unconventional and creative strategies — a milestone in AI development. Despite AI dominance in the game, chess has seen a global resurgence thanks to online platforms, live-streamed tournaments, and popular culture moments like Netflix's The Queen's Gambit. Musk acknowledged this rise in popularity but maintained that the game's eventual solvability by machines made it less appealing to him. iQOO Z10R 5G goes on Sale: BEST Budget Phone for Content Creators? AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Business Insider
7 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Andreessen Horowitz is looking to pay $400K+ for a leader to build out a podcast network
Andreessen Horowitz is on the hunt for a podcast leader, the latest step in the famous VC firm's longtime strategy to sidestep the mainstream press and create its own content. In a LinkedIn post, the firm, also called A16z, says it's looking for a podcast network lead to "drive the strategy, operations, and growth of a network of externally created but strategically aligned podcasts." The job involves recruiting independent hosts to Andreessen Horowitz's podcast platform, as well as helping them grow and monetize their audiences. The firm anticipates paying up to $424,000 in yearly salary. The firm didn't respond to requests for comment. Andreessen Horowitz was an early mover among VC firms in content marketing and has long had big ambitions when it comes to media. Its moves in this area tend to be closely watched in media and tech circles. The firm is best known for its flagship show, "The A16z Podcast." The show started in 2014 and taps engineers, founders, experts, and the firm's general partners to talk about where tech is headed. Newer shows include the year-old "The Ben and Marc Show" hosted by cofounders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and a science-focused show, "Raising Health." In April, Andreessen Horowitz brought on Erik Torenberg as a general partner to help lead the firm's media and network initiatives. Torenberg is an established Silicon Valley figure who created Turpentine, a tech podcast network. The firm has also invested in media, including in Substack, a newsletter platform that's expanding into new areas like video, and Clubhouse, an audio-focused social network. Andreessen Horowitz's record in media has been mixed. In 2021, it started Future, a buzzed-about publication that put a hopeful lens on tech and society. The firm quietly shut down the publication after a year and a half. But it's stayed the course with podcasting. Under Sonal Chokshi, a former Wired editor who was brought on in 2014 to shepherd its media strategy, the firm expanded to new shows. It also announced a bigger emphasis on its flagship podcast. Over the years, the firm has expressed interest in investing in podcasting, citing the medium's rapid adoption and its ability to go beyond passive listening and become social in nature. Chokshi wrote about Andreessen Horowitz's podcast ambitions in a 2020 blog post, calling podcasts an intimate medium that was better at conveying nuance than text. "Just as great podcasts can come from non-media companies, so, too, will the next podcast networks," she wrote. 'The next stage of content is video' Other VCs like Kleiner Perkins and IVP have hired established journalists and commissioned long-form articles and even films. In this way, firms can set themselves apart, ensure their portfolio companies get press, and counter what they see as negative coverage of the tech industry by traditional news outlets. Ted Merz, who does content strategy for executives at Principals Media, said podcasting and video would allow the firm to better promote its portfolio companies, attract talent, and build visibility. "The next stage of content is video," Merz said. People are consuming more podcasts on YouTube, driving new attention to the medium as well as other personality-driven vehicles like Substack newsletters. Hosts in finance and tech have capitalized, with shows like "TBPN," which has recently hosted VCs like Keith Rabois and Alexis Ohanian. Harry Stebbings, host of "The Twenty Minute VC," parlayed his podcast profile into a $400 million fundraise. Edison Research said in October that YouTube had become the top podcast consumption platform. The platform itself said in February that more than 1 billion people listened to podcasts on the platform every month and that in 2024, viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on TVs. Companies are also trying to win the AI game as people increasingly use the tech for search. A new study by Muck Rack found that about 9% of the links cited by AI represent a brand's own content channels, and another 37% are links to content that features a company or brand. Longform writing still has its place, but podcasts are well suited to VC's media strategy, said Chantelle Darby, a longtime tech PR professional. "Audio and video interviews, in particular, make it easier to extract and package expertise from busy venture partners and founders," she said.
Bloomberg
12 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Peter Thiel-Backed Venture Debt Firm Tacora Raises $685 Million
Billionaire venture capitalists Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen and Joe Lonsdale are joining a group of investors putting $685 million into Tacora Capital, a little known firm that lends money to startups. Tacora's latest investment, which also included backers like endowments and pension funds, brings the firm's assets under management to about $1.4 billion, it said.
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Regulated But Not Restricted: Software Transformation Despite Compliance Barriers
In highly regulated industries, innovation is stuck in the past, running on 1990s-era technology wrapped in a 2020s coat of paint. In 2011, Marc Andreessen declared that software is eating the world. By 2023, Shyam Sankar observed that software had already eaten the world. But now, the question is: Is the world eating software? Software has become ubiquitous, as cloud, mobile, data, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) have fused into everyday life. But while software transformation is advancing at a breakneck pace when it comes to the mundane, it's stalling out in highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance, those that could benefit from progress the most. The average American interacts with software daily, almost hourly. Fitness trackers have evolved into medical devices, self-driving cars are rewriting mobility, and AI copilots are reshaping how we work. Software is no longer just eating the world—it is being consumed, regulated, and embedded into critical, real-world infrastructure. Yet, in highly regulated industries, innovation remains stuck in the past, running on 1990s-era technology wrapped in a 2020s coat of paint. Compliance constraints have slowed adoption, leaving industries like defense, finance, and healthcare struggling to integrate modern software-driven value into their core operations. Finding a productive way forward requires keeping the intent of regulation alive while making adjustments as needed. Enabling Software Transformation in Regulated Industries When faced with compliance barriers, most organizations take one of two counterproductive approaches: They either give up, assuming regulations make modern software practices impossible, or they try to shoehorn modern practices into legacy compliance frameworks. Instead of settling for 'no,' it can be beneficial to reframe the problem as 'yes, if.' What has to change for the desired outcome to be achieved? When it comes to outdated policies, it's sometimes possible to identify strategic modifications that maintain the intent of compliance while enabling progress. Regulatory frameworks are designed to protect against specific risks—for example, data protection laws safeguard consumer privacy. They're not meant to stifle innovation. If it's possible to make a business case for an exception, it may be possible to make a change. By addressing underlying concerns instead of mindlessly following outdated rules, transformation may be possible. Of course, there are limitations. While regulatory structures can be reframed, they can't be ignored completely. If you're an auto manufacturer, you build your cars to fit existing infrastructure—the roads and highways already available. You don't build a car that's so big and unwieldy, it doesn't fit on the road, and then insist to the government that the roads should be wider. In the same way, regulated industries must focus on being fit for purpose as they innovate, rather than innovating for innovation's sake. Small Changes Can Mean Big Impact Ultimately, the question isn't whether software can transform highly regulated industries—it undoubtedly can. It's whether these industries, given their regulatory constraints, can consume and adapt to software at the speed of relevance. The world demands trustworthy, scalable, and compliant platforms, but are we truly prepared for the next wave of software-driven transformation? Until we find ways for highly regulated industries to innovate more freely, software transformation will stagnate in these areas, meaning untapped potential and missed opportunities for security, efficiency, and potentially life-saving innovations.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Breakingviews - Netscape IPO casts a shadow from 1995 over AI boom
NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - With a $300 billion valuation, ChatGPT developer OpenAI towers over peak Netscape. The trailblazing web browser, however, looms large from Silicon Valley to Wall Street as the 30th anniversary of its world-shaking initial public offering approaches. Both the similarities and differences with the internet craze have created some worrisome conditions for today's artificial intelligence mania. Netscape IPO delirium was instrumental in reshaping technology and finance. The company went public on August 9, 1995, just 16 months after veteran entrepreneur Jim Clark and computer programming whiz Marc Andreessen started it. With assistance from Morgan Stanley's Frank Quattrone and Mary Meeker, and Bill Hambrecht of Hambrecht & Quist, the co-founders cleared the way for unprofitable, fast-growing ventures to attract investments from big money managers. The frenzy to buy its shares also spawned a dotcom boom that would run for nearly five years. Moreover, Netscape helped rewrite funding handbooks, debunked some of the first-mover gospel, and provides lasting cautionary tales about capital intensity and the threat from entrenched rivals. As AI fever grips the market, these developments are instructive. Consider the technological backdrop as Netscape released its user-friendly Navigator browser three decades ago. Soon after the market debut, Meeker drafted the first of her regular trend-spotting reports, which have become required reading, opens new tab for the industry. 'What is the Internet?' she pondered early in the inaugural 323-page presentation. While TVs and corded telephones could be found in 95% of U.S. households, less than 1% of the world's population had access to the worldwide web, including email. There were about 16 million users. Netscape sold 5 million shares for $28 apiece, nowhere near enough to satisfy insatiable demand for a company considered to be the future of the internet, despite having lost $4 million on $15 million of revenue during the first half of 1995. The stock nearly tripled, before ending the day at about $58 to impute a $2.3 billion market value. Six months later, the boom got an extra boost from the U.S. government. Deregulation of the telecom industry helped fuel a nearly $500 billion spending spree over roughly five years to build network capacity. There are some notable differences between then and now. Just look at OpenAI, whose ChatGPT exploded onto the scene much like Netscape did by making an arcane technology accessible to the masses. The firm led by Sam Altman is now almost a decade old and three years have passed since it shook up the industry, but it remains beyond the reach of most investors. OpenAI recently raised $40 billion privately, the single biggest funding round in Silicon Valley history, at a $300 billion valuation. With so much venture and later-stage money available to entrepreneurs, it's no wonder the number of tech IPOs has plummeted from 370 in 1999 to just 14 last year. Myriad scandals from the dotcom era involving inflated valuations, excess commissions and improperly allocated shares also led to new regulations that chilled some of Wall Street's willingness to underwrite unproven business models. Efforts in 2012 to make it easier for smaller startups to go public failed to jumpstart the market and arguably put investors at greater risk by reducing the amount of required corporate disclosure. New tech stock issuance is so fallow that JPMorgan has started providing, opens new tab clients with research about private ones. 'Some good business models are out there,' Hambrecht, one of the bankers who advised Netscape, told Breakingviews in an interview earlier this month. 'There's still a lot of demand for new investments, and sites like Robinhood are bringing a new dimension with younger, more aggressive investors. There's just a lack of issues, and I just think the financial markets have changed so significantly since Netscape.' Another big reminder of the time remains entrenched in the technological firmament: Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab. The software behemoth squashed Navigator, which had amassed about 90% of the browser market, by bundling its competing Internet Explorer with the Windows 95 operating system. The aggression attracted the attention of U.S. trustbusters, leading to a landmark lawsuit and settlement. Seemingly heeding the ominous precedent, Microsoft boss Satya Nadella carefully partnered with OpenAI in 2019 while providing a $1 billion investment. Since then, however, the relationship has become increasingly strained, leaving open the possibility that history will rhyme. Altman has another good reason to brush up on the browser wars. Netscape could not have mobilized any faster, having developed a product, dominated the market and created investment buzz within 16 months. And yet it was unable to keep up with a deep-pocketed rival. The company swiftly ceded its share of users and succumbed to giving Navigator away free. In late 1998, Netscape agreed to an ill-fated sale to dial-up internet service provider America Online for about $4 billion in stock, worth $10 billion by the time the deal closed months later. One risk for Altman is that ChatGPT winds up similarly clearing a path only for more established rivals to ultimately walk it. 'It's always striking – given all the tech enthusiasm – how few companies become massive winners. There's a lesson there,' Meeker wrote to Breakingviews in an emailed reply to questions. 'There's also a lesson related to just how massive and foundational the big winners can become.' Her observation partly explains the mad rush to build data centers, buy chips and secure the power used to train and expand large language models. The danger is that all this investment alters Big Tech's use of capital for the worse. Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, (AMZN.O), opens new tab, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are on track to deploy more than $300 billion this year alone, a 13-fold increase from a decade ago. Although they're funding the outlays with their own cash flow, unlike the debt-heavy telecom providers of the 1990s, there is a risk that capacity winds up similarly outpacing demand. As if all that isn't enough to give investors pause, there are other indications of recklessness, any one of which could cause fear to ripple through the market. Cryptocurrency exuberance abounds thanks to relaxed restrictions; shell companies stuffed with cash have made a comeback buying speculative ventures; meme stocks keep raging; and U.S. regulators have proposed rolling back rules designed to curb day trading and protect investors from big losses that were put into place in 2001 after the dotcom bust. The dearth of IPOs is also leading to a proliferation of sites offering unproven access to hot, private tech firms. It's all part of a shaky edifice that portends another bittersweet anniversary. Full view will be published shortly. Follow Jeffrey Goldfarb on X, opens new tab and Linkedin, opens new tab.
